Am I really cut out for blogging??

So it has come to my attention that maybe I need to tighten up my Facebook privacy settings a little bit.  I know, I know this is probably something I should have done loooong ago, and I have in the past spent some time thinking about it.  But in all honesty I do kind of like being Facebook-findable.  I love people, meeting them, getting to know them and I guess in a way … collecting them.  Not in a sinister way, but in a thank you for stopping by and making an impression on my life kind of way and so why not  continue being in each others lives in an easily accessible and socially acceptable format aka Bookface.  I find that there is nothing more disappointing than when you meet someone interesting, plan to connect via FB only to find that they are have cracked the privacy settings right up and are impossible to find.  In those situations I genuinely feel a sense of loss.  A lost opportunity to purse a friendship or a business relationship, a lost photo in which I will never be tagged in, the loss of a sofa to stay on in some far off land …. You get the picture.  Of course these losses work both ways … my sofa (well if I had one) and friendship is always open to those I meet…

So what do my Facebook privacy settings have to do with my blog?  Well the way diaryofabritishcowgirl is set up is pretty basic.  I haven’t paid for any fancy webpage space and I’m pretty sure it doesn’t show up in any search engines.  Yes it exists out in the world of cyber space, but only in a very small, personal pocket of the world wide web.  This is not by accident (or because I am too tight to pay for a webpage) rather I set it up like this so that my random ramblings could only be accessed by my beloved friends, family and facebook people* who happen to be an audience I am comfortable sharing things with.  Fortunately when growing up I never had the experience of having my mother read my diary. (or if she did she kept it pretty quiet; which in hindsight is probably because my teenage diary was just full of horrific love poems about a certain boy who shall go by the acronym TK) So finding out that being Facebook-findable has left my blog WIDE open to people who exist outside of my snuggle blanket acquaintances has left me feeling a wee bit exposed, and unsure about how I wish to continue writing on this blog.

I guess I’ve been naive to think that this would not happen, and maybe I am just having a bit of a blog-isis (blog-crisis) … who knows but for now I will sign out, wish you all a Happy New Year and remind you to check out my friend Jess’ fab blog; http://chickinavan.com/

*I don’t know why I separated out the FB people here, if you are on my FB then in my books you count as a friend. 

First of all ... 

Well it has come to that time of year again where it is common place to reflect upon the events of last 12 months.  So here are my top three highlights  …. 

Christmas in the UK 2012. 

Ok so technically this was last year, but I am counting this one as my number one event from the past year (and a bit).  I had a wonderful Eastman – Manley family Christmas, with an open log fire, lots of laughter, lots of love and plenty of tipple.  Sadly this was to be the last Christmas that we were all fortunate enough to celebrate with my uncle, John Manley.  What more can be said than he is sorely missed and warmly remembered.  I don’t sway toward religious sentiment often, but in this instance I like to think that my Dad and John are knocking around somewhere together like they did in their younger years.  Not one to dwell on sadness here are the rest of my highlights from home….

·         That first, post 26 hour flight hug from Mum and the big sis, Nikki.

·         Watching Breaking Dawn (Part 2) with Carly Bean.

·         1920’s flapper NYE party with Bex.

·         Watching Breaking Dawn (Part 2) again but this time with Lozza.

·         Being seen off at the airport by Row and her two gorgeous little ladies, Maria and Isabelle. 
          Special highlight was dancing around the airport restaurant like a looney tune with Maria! 

·         Culinary highlights included Marmite on toast (the first thing I had to eat back on British soil)

·         Bacon and egg sandwich (the second thing I had to eat)

·         CHESTNUT STUFFING (and fighting my cousin Mark for it)

·         Having a proper curry and Chinese takeout

·         Consuming waaay too many Sainsburys melt in the middle chocolate puddings (salivating right now           thinking about those delicious little bits of  yumminess)

This is by no means an extensive list of all the wonderful things I did back home… but it’s a good start.

Living out my Cowgirl Dream at Colwell Station. 

I HATE the dentist.  It scares the be-jesus out of me.  The noise, the smell, the white overalls, the out of date magazines in the waiting room, that sucky thing that they jam around in your mouth … HATE HATE HATE it.  But the overwhelming fear I get before stepping into that sterile environment, paled in comparison to the absolute terror I had when I closed the door behind me at the wonderful apartment I resided at in Fitzroy, Melbourne.  (Which also came with the best house mate ever, Alex  … see later highlights).  I mean I was leaving my comfortable life of routine, my fab friends, Ben & Jerrys Cafe and mobile signal to go and live literally in the middle of outback Australia, with a man I had never met, his dogs and a whole heap of cows.  It would have been wrong not to be nervous really.  I pacified myself with the knowledge that I only needed to stick it out for 88 days in order to get my 2nd year visa...  Turned out it was more difficult to leave Colwell Station than it was to get there in the first place, much more difficult.   Credit for all the amazing experiences I had at Colwell go to Luke (aka the boss).  Highlights are too many to mention really and are pretty well documented in previous blog entries.  Instead I will just say a massive THANK YOU to Luke McNeven for making a lifelong dream a reality.

Wonderful People (and characterful animals)

I’ve come to a very significant realisation about my travelling experiences, which goes a little something like this...  I have been blessed to have seen some of the most beautiful and historically significant places in the world and although these are awe inspiring in themselves, for me their true beauty and significance lies not just in the place itself, but in the people who I was able to share their beauty with.  I guess this point is a bit of a cheat, as technically I am not just talking about 2013 highlights but I feel it is an important one to note. In order to keep it 2013 focused though here is a summary of just a few of the characters I have met this year …

·         Alex, the bestest housemate in the world.  Late night trips to the Ben & Jerrys Café are particular             highlights, but just hanging out watching TV and yarning about the days events was wonderful. (Again         this is a wee bit of a cheat seeing as I moved in with you September 2012 buuut whatever … this is             my blog after all!)   

·         Suzy D, Luke’s mum and one of the most welcoming and accomplished women I have met. 

·         Luke, the best teacher I have ever had with unlimited patience and a wicked sense of humour. 

·         Amy, Toby, Charlotte, Cameron, Nena, James, Jasper & Jonny aka the McKinlay  Friday night tennis             crew/ houseparty hustlers/ dirt disco-ers/ races ravers/ rodeo revellers … We shared far too many             Bundy’s and had more fun than you can shake a stick at.  Who knew that you could meet so many                 likeminded wonderful people when living in the middle of nowhere?!

·         Clare & Lou from Glassy’s Hat Pub … FYI guys I LET you win at Monopoly Deal :D

·         Glassy’s Hat Patrons.  Too many to mention individually, but what a bunch of ragamuffins they are,             admittedly some are more tolerable than others and one I am particularly fond of…

Again the above is by no means an extensive list of the fantastic people I have met.  Now this sub title also included “Characterful Animals” so I must not forget the following;

·         Yum Yum, the fluffiest, craziest cat you would ever dream to meet who had an uncanny ability to                 go all Matrix on you and climb the walls.

·         Heidi the Party Cow, totally spoilt with love and leftovers this poddy calf knows how to party, has a             penchant for headwear and can skull a stubby faster than a thirsty cowboy. 

·         Pumpkin & Toffee, mums two beautiful kittens.  Snuggling with them whilst I was back home was just            gorgeous. 

So that’s my top three for 2013.  Hanging out with family, getting to see out a lifelong dream and meeting a wealth of wonderful people along the way.  Not bad really, not bad at all…

Ok so after a few months absence (sorry I never have been good at keeping a diary), and reading some of my friends inspiring blogs (see links below) I am back on the blogging band wagon.  So what’s new?

Well I successfully completed my 88 days regional specified work at Colwell Station, in fact I loved it so much there I stayed well past the 88 days (and probably annoyed the heck out of Luke!).  Things on the station continued much as normal, although following his shoulder surgery Luke decided to be slack and make me do all the heavy lifting.  Quite literally too … my muscles certainly got a work out during my twice weekly lick run, which involved lifting 1+ tonnes of lick onto the back of the Nissan (and then taking it off again to feed the cows).  All those fancy gym classes I’ve been to over the years pale in comparison to doing real physical labour.  It’s probably best that I left when I did otherwise I’d be giving Arnie a run for his money on the bicep front!  Other crazy things I got to do during the final month included; driving the lorry with all my precious little weaners on the back and dropping them off in their new home, North Paddock.  Got a major case of empty nest syndrome the next day when I went out on my water run and they were no longer expectantly stood waiting in the yards for me L.  None the less it was lovely seeing them all running around North Paddock in their little groups, exploring their new surroundings and making friends with the older cool cows.  I wish I had taken a photo of them all when they were on the back of the truck; it was most bizarre looking in the rear-view mirror and seeing all their little heads bobbing in unison as I trundled over the dirt road’s lumps and bumps.

A stand out non station adventure was swagging it up Mount Wills with Jasper, James and Amy.  It really is beautiful up there, and what more do you need in life other than a comfy swag, good friends, some drinks, snags cooked on the fire and toasted marshmallows (remember blow don’t flick ‘mallows when they set on fire – safety first and all).

Anyway, regrettably it was soon time enough to move on from Colwell and seek a new adventure (and fingers crossed paid employment).  Fortunately the stress of trying to get all my worldly possessions into bags weighing no more than 10kg each (WTF?!) diverted my attention away from the devastation of leaving (seriously nearly 3 years into ‘backpacking’ and I still hate goodbyes).  Colwell was an experience that I will never forget, I really did get to explore my cowgirl tendencies – and man did I love it, I wonder if ranches/stations could exist at home? 

A quick touchdown in Townsville saw me readjust to dealing with traffic, people and living in dorm rooms.  I then set off to Airlie Beach to reunite with Amy (the bar maid from Walkabout) and ended up getting a work for accommodation job at Airlie Beach Nomads Hostel.  I started off doing 3 hours of house keeping every day, but soon switched to driving the hostels mini bus, picking up and dropping off people at the nearby Greyhound bus station (much nicer than scrubbing toilets!!).  I met some great people whilst at Nomads, best dorm room ever!! :D  It was also great being back near the sea again, having been landlocked for over 4 months in a very dry part of central Queensland.  Only bugger was that it happened to be stinger season, so you could look all you wanted at the beautiful blue hues of Airlie’s beaches, but getting in the water was a bit of a no no as I had no intentions of swimming the Box and Irukandji jellyfish gauntlet.
So to current times … right now I am living in a small town called Cataby 2 hours North of Perth in Western Australia.  When I say town, all there really is here is the pub (that I am working in), a petrol station next door and the miners camp just down the road.  It is possible that I have actually moved to somewhere smaller than McKinlay.  Crazy.  I’ve been working at the pub for just over a month now and it took no time at all getting used to the daily cleaning and restocking routine.  It has however taken some time to get used to the more eccentric aspects of working in an Outback country pub.  Take Wednesday nights for example, aka Skimpy night or as I refer to it, the-awkward-night-when-I-have-to-work-alongside-a-naked-girl-whilst-serving-drunk-leery-pervy-men.  Buut I can’t complain too much, after all I consciously chose to come here and work, the theory being that I want to experience things that are different to home, and I can say mission accomplished as you certainly don’t get pubs like this back in the UK! 

The clientèle range from people passing thorough, to truckies, farmers and unruly workers from the mine.  The first couple of weeks were challenging, being able to effectively deal with drunk people when you are on the other side of the bar, and sober, is a real skill.  The best tip I’ve had was from Shari the lovely lady that I work with who told me one day;

“Just smile like you have ‘fuck off’ written on your teeth”

Astonished that such a word existed in Shari’s vocabulary, the message took some time to sink in.  But I am pleased to say that I am well on my way to mastering the F*** You smile. 

Other than growing a slightly thicker skin and grinning, A LOT, in the past few weeks I have;

• Met Biker gangs asking for Tomato Juice.  What the?!
• Had a hairy biker slip me his number, for you know … when I am next in Perth and looking for a good time.  <shudder>.
• Experienced mild casual racism on a daily basis.  Especially at the moment during The Ashes, so much so I’ve given up explaining that I am not a POM, and who won the last Ashes series??.
• Been offered a job breaking in horses, by a man who goes by the name of Horse... not dodgy at all!
• Got up close to angry bulls at the Mogumba Rodeo.
• Taken up jogging as a way to get out, keep fit and run off residual stress.
• Cooked a Crayfish.
• Met an interesting fella called Shagga with even more interesting and diabolical stories.
• Cut someone off and felt the backlash of an angry drunk.
• Met some wonderful people and laughed a lot ….
  

Right that’s me for now at least…. If you are still looking for more inspiring and funny tales check out these two blogs by a couple of kick ass chicks I’m fortunate enough to have met;

http://chickinavan.com/ - one woman conquering the USA in her van

http://www.miss-sweet.co.uk/ - living life to the full l

Monday 29th July – day 77

Monday means one thing … water run.  Bit different this time as we got to make sure all the weaners are happy over in their new paddock.  They’re looking pretty well settled, going off in little groups exploring the place.  A couple managed to get into the fenced off section around Dribbling Bore…. Gave James and myself a bit of a workout running around after them trying to get them out.  One managed to get out relatively easily, but the other gave us some trouble.  In the end we managed to catch him and had to drag him to the fence.  Not wanting to have to chase weaners around here on a regular basis we decided to tighten the fence up a bit.  (Seems to have worked as haven’t caught any in here since).  It’s great seeing all the weaners out in the paddock, looking healthy and happy.  I took a few photos of them enjoying their new surroundings…  After getting back from the water run and having some lunch we headed out to feed the small weaners who are still living up in the yards.  We then did another round of prickle tree spraying before calling it quits for the day.

Tuesday 30th July – day 78

Did a couple of rounds of prickle tree spraying this morning.  This is still one of my less favourite things to do.  Somehow I always manage to get stuck in the prickle bushes, which may not sound too bad but boy do these things have prickles!!  Some have prickles that are long enough and strong enough to make sewing needles out of – so it can be pretty painful when you get stuck in them!  At one point the bush had me by the scruff of the neck, the tops of both my arms, my hat and the backs of my legs.  Not fun, although I have noticed that some of the trees I sprayed earlier in the month have started to die off, so I feel like I am getting some revenge.  After lunch we walked cows from Yanganjerry water tank over to the green water tank in Nora Creek.  The purpose was mainly just to open up the paddocks and give them more food options…. It took us about three hours to walk these cows between paddocks, pretty slow going and it was hot too.  One old cow decided she’d had enough and decided to sit down in a creek.  Tried our best to get her moving again but she would just not budge so I decided to leave her behind and that we would check on her first thing in the morning.

Wednesday 31st July – day 79

So first thing we did today was drive out and check on the cow from yesterday.  I had all my fingers and toes crossed that she had decided to get up in the night, but unfortunately she was still sat where we had left her.  In these instances we do our best to try and get the cow up on their feet, if we don’t then more often than not they will stay down and die/get attacked by crows and other wild animals.  It’s not easy getting big cows up on their feet, and it’s impossible to do by hand, so James ended up having to drive the loader over all the bumpy mountain, sorry Mitchell Grass.  The next thing we had to do was wrap two chains around the cows belly, whilst dodging her head/leg (as they can still whack you pretty good even when they’re sat on their arse!).  Once the chains were around the belly and attached to the loader, James lifted the loader arm up picking up the cow, and as soon as her hooves were on the ground and she had taken her weight, James had to drop the loader arm and then she just casually walked out of the chains and was off on her merry way, with a cheeky look behind her like nothing had happened.…. I guess sometimes we all need a bit of help getting up!  Once we’d driven the loader back we did a round of prickle tree spraying and then after lunch we moved some cows into a new paddock, and did a quick check of the dams.

Thursday 1st August – day 80

Spent the morning on a water run, the weaners in North Paddock are certainly enjoying their weaner feed, greedy little so and so’s!! After lunch we headed out to Yanganjerry to move some cows into Nora Creek – theses were ones that we must have missed on Tuesday. It was another hot ol’ day so again these ladies were a bit slow to move.  Took us just over 3 hours, I was glad to get back home and out of the sun!

Friday 2nd August – day 81

Did two rounds of prickle tree spraying in the morning, still getting stuck in the prickles L not fun!  But at least with James here we can share the load a bit.  After lunch we did the usual daily tasks, checking the weaners and dams.  As its Friday we headed over to McKinlay town for a spot of Friday night tennis.  Wasn’t too much of a late one as saving it up for the weekend and the Cloncurry Merry Muster …

Saturday 3rd August – day 82

Picked up Jasper and Amy on route to Cloncurry, and we stopped off at Anthill Jonny to paint his face on.  Hopefully Jonny will be happy with it!!  Spent the day and night at the Merry Muster, and had a fantastic day/night watching all the bull riders, steer wrestlers, ropers and bareback riders.  How some of those guys can stay on the bulls/horses I don’t know.  As ever the after party in the dirt with a live band was good fun .. although I think most of us had just one too many rums!!

Sunday 4th August – day 83

We stayed over night in the Post Office Hotel, Cloncurry, and seems that everyone managed to make their way back ok!  Took it easy getting up and out of the rooms and then we drove out to Chinaman Dam just outside of Cloncurry Township.  It was a beautiful day (although they are always sunny out here!)  but the best thing was just being near a large(ish) body of water …. Ohh how I do miss the sea! 

Monday 5th August – day 84

Bad things happen in 3’s right?  Monday = water run.  So myself and James got into the Nissan and realised we better fill up (as all in all the whole water run is over 100kms).  Got to the diesel pump and James noticed that the diesel was coming out rather sluggish …. Low and behold we have run out of diesel … which made me panic a bit.  Especially seeing as we use diesel for;

-          The ute, car, loader etc

-          For the back up generator (Should power go out)

-          To mix with poison to spray prickle trees

-          Etc etc …

Oh well not much I can do about that … maybe it will give us some time off spraying prickle trees!!  Anyway we carried on with the water run … all was fine until we got out on to the tarmac where I proceeded to completely smash the windscreen by hitting a rather large eagle at about 100km/ph.  Bugger –that’s number 2.  Didn’t have any choice but to carry on along the road and back home where we switched into the other Ute … which had sufficient fuel to get us around the remainder of our water run, thankfully.  Once we finally got back (in one piece) from the water run we headed up to feed the weaners in the yard and number 3 happened, as one little steer had died :( .   Not a good day!!!!

Tuesday 6th August – day 85

We had been noticing that the little weaners up in the yards have sores/scabs on them and that they seemed to be scratching a lot.  In order to combat this myself and James set out in the morning to de-lice and worm the weaners.  It was relatively easy to do as it was an external de-licer (not injectable)  Fingers crossed once they have got rid of their lice/worms they will pick up a bit.  Unfortunately the lack of diesel has not meant the end of prickle tree spraying as it turns out that there was a pod full of some dirty (i.e. cant be used in vehicles) diesel laying around.  James and I just needed to rig it up so that we could fill up the poison tank, once that was done we headed out twice to attack the prickle trees .. wooooooo!!

Wednesday 7th August – day 86

What better way to start your day than with two bouts of prickle tree spraying!?  Not much more to say about that – I think you all know my feelings about prickle trees!!  After lunch we gave the wagon a good (and well needed) clean, inside and out … man I never realised just how shiny the wagon could be, it was almost blinding in the sunshine!!  Seeing as it was pretty filthy it took us a while to get it so shiny, left me just enough time to get a bit of housework done (ready for the arrival of Tony H – a friend of Luke’s who will be coming to help out during his week off from the mine).

Thursday 8th August – day 87

Today we set out on the water run, started early to ensure we had enough time to drive out to Cloncurry to do a weekly food shop.  On the way back from doing the shopping we stopped in to pick up Tony, our new housemate for the next week. 

Friday 9th August – day 88

Drove Tony out  to Beaudessert Lane Paddock today to familiarise him with the area.  Tony then set about grading the road through the paddock.  He made loads of progress in just one day the road was way smoother!  Good work!  Whilst Tony was out making the roads of Colwell safe, James and I did yet more prickle bush spraying …. I would get a photo of it for you, but I’m not sure I want to remember it! 

p.s. anyone else noticed what day it is? … I made it to day 88/ 3 months so I should now be able to apply for my second year visa!  After having been so terrified of leaving Melbourne to do this, all I can say is I have had the most amazing time and have not regretted coming out here one bit!!  Best decision ever maybe!?  Anyways the hard work is not done yet, as I will stay for a bit longer (plan is to stay until end of September) to help out Luke (who will be in a sling for at least 6 weeks following his shoulder op)…. I wonder what the next adventure in Oz will be ???

 

Monday 22nd July – day 70

Drafted the weaners today separating the little/slightly wobbly on their feet ones from the bigger healthier weaners who will be making the 25+km walk over to Nulgra in a few days.  We then drafted the larger ones again checking through to make sure they were all branded, ear marked, had been dehornedand for the boys … cut (sorry fellas!)  There were a fair few that needed this treatment, so got a chance to practice branding, also did the ear marking and had a few goes at dehorning … I still think it seems pretty brutal, and depending on the size of the existing horns you either have to use a double edged knife to cut the horn and skin around it out, or for larger horns you have to use ‘super scoops’.  These are like large sharp nut crackers,  I found them easier to use than the knife and got a cleaner cut out of the horn… only thing is that the larger the horns are when you cut them out the more bloody it all is – I felt like I was in the middle of some Quentin Tatantino film with blood squirting all over the place :S , despite this the weaners soon hop up and are back running about like nothing happened, I think I end up more traumatised than they do!

Tuesday 23rd July – day 71

James and I headed out this morning to do the water run.  I love getting out and doing the water run, I had been enjoying doing it on my own since Nena left -  was a great way to relax and have some thinking time whilst driving through the paddocks …. However having another person along again has been great – not just because I no longer have to struggle lifting the 40kg lick bags, but also because it means I get to play Monopoly deal again (whilst we sit and wait for one of the tanks to fill up).  Sadly I seem to have taught James how to play too well, and he has taken to smashing me at it L …  Next time I introduce someone to the game I will ensure that I only give them the basic tips and tricks!!   After lunch, and getting over my Monopoly defeats, we started to walk the big weaners over towards Nulgra.  Luke made the decision that it would be best to walk them in two stages so we only took them over the road and left them overnight at a holding paddock.  This is about 1/3rd of the total journey they will be making, but was still a fair old walk and took about 3 hours.  I do often wish that cows would all just walk in a straight line and stop trying to eat the bloody grass, but I guess they can’t really help it – after all it is part of their nature!!  By the end of this I was pretty shattered, and a little bit fed up of being on my bike, although that may have been due to the fact that I had a few falls off – they were all super slow and it was mostly because I hit a rut at an awkward angle, which normally wouldn’t result in falling off, but I was so tired that I just couldn’t hold the bike up when this happened so I ended up dropping my bike a few times.  Ooops…

Wednesday 24th July – day 72

Early start today as we needed to get the weaners all the way to Nulgra by the end of the day.  What little troopers they were too, all but one managed the rest of the walk.  For the one that couldn’t walk all the way, I had to grab and tie its legs up so that Luke could go back to pick him up in the truck and drop him off at the final destination.  Apart from that we only had one iffy moment where the weaners decided to take the hardest route across one of the creeks.  It was like watching Lemmings dropping over a cliff!! We had to drag a couple of the weaker ones up the banks which was hard work; it was then even more challenging working out how to safely get ourselves and our motorbikes up and out of the sandy, steep sided creek, but I made it, and I didn’t fall off!! (this time anyway!)  I will admit to getting very fed up at several other points during the day;  the ground was very difficult to ride on (sandy with lots of bumpy mitchell grass and hidden holes) and I got stuck a fair few times.  Luke witnessed one of my little paddys when I fell off (again at super slow speed) – I came very close to kicking the damn bike, but resorted to sitting on my ass with the bike in front of me and pounding the ground with my very angry fists!  Apparently Luke found this sight rather amusing…  Finally we got them to their new paddock, and it only took us from 7am unti?!) is actually broken from being sat on a motorbike for all that time!!  Never mind once we were home it was time to hit the shower and get over the aches and pains in order to head to McKinlay and the Walkabout Pub for farewell drinks for Jonny.  You would have thought that after all this time spent travelling I am better at saying goodbye to people … unfortunately not L  I still hate saying goodbye (even when I know people are headed off to have more adventures and fun).  McKinlay will be losing a fabulous chef and I’m losing my doubles partner.  It’s going to be weird not having Jonny around, but here’s to wishing him an awesome time in Thailand and all the best for the future.

Thursday 25th July – day 73

Early start this morning as we had to leave at 7am to drop Luke off at Cannington Mine for his flight to Townsville.  He will now be away for at least two weeks whilst he attends his sisters wedding and then has an op on his shoulder (to stop it popping out all the time – yuck).  Whilst he is away it will just be myself and James looking after things and so I can now officially add Station Manager to my CV – how cool is that?!

Our first task was supposed to be simple … moving the bulls into Ram paddock (just one paddock over from where they are currently staying).  As I’ve mentioned before the bulls are really well behaved, they’re just a bit slow and lazy when it comes to being mustered up.  Hahahahahaha famous last words!! Today one bull had clearly got up on the wrong side of the prickle bush and was doing everything in its power to misbehave.  Started off by putting his head down and puffing a bit, which is normal behaviour for bulls that just can’t be arsed to move.  The best thing to do in this instance is to drive head onto them with the quadbike and push them back until they give up and walk in the right direction.  I started doing that with this bull (now named Nicholas…. Aka Nasty Nick… aka Dick(head) ) and all seemed to go to plan, but then he got a little bit peppy and decided to run in the opposite direction to where we wanted him to go, and where all the other bulls were slowly but compliantly walking to.  James and I took persuit to get him in the right direction but he was having none of it.  He started putting his head down and running a little bit at us, I persevered with the quadbike but when he turned and landed a hefty hoof on the front of my bike I took the executive decision to lay off him and let him run the way he wanted.  After all he was running towards a holding paddock that had a gate into the paddock we wanted him to go in.  So once Nick had helpfully run himself into the holding area, we tried again, leaving the gate to the correct paddock wide open for him.  He was still having none of it, and started to actually charge at James who was on a motorbike. All I can say is thank god I was on the 4 wheeler, not being a super confident motorbike rider  I would have most probably  wet myself if I had been in that situation!!  Thankfully James being a bit of a pro on the bike seemed to take it in his stride and even commented that he thought the bull would be faster – from where I was sat it looked more than fast enough!!  So after dodging a very narky Nick we tried once more to get him toward the correct gate.  Sadly the wind must have changed and he must have got a whiff of the ladies who had just come into the next door paddock for a morning drink.  Next thing we know Nick has kamikaze rolled through the fence and is now in with the ladies.  At which point I just thought, maybe I won’t be putting “Station Manager” on my CV after all!!  The area that Nick had rolled into had a gate open which would allow him out into one of the larger paddocks giving him access to a number of poor cows who, having only just gotten rid of their greedy weaners, would be very unhappy to receive him and his habits!  I then whizzed over to the said open gate, jumped off and shut it as fast as humanly possible… all the while Nick was pacing and staring at me and was not that far away.  Thankfully he didn’t have the foresight to run at the gate (otherwise I would have been well and truly flattened, with Nick shaped hoof prints).  Contained… again…we then tried to separate Nick from the ladies who were unfortunately trapped in the paddock with him … the wuss just kept hiding behind the ladies and randomly charging at James when he got too close.  Not wanting to push him too much (and cause him to jump through another fence) we decided to leave him in with the ladies and headed home for a bit to let him cool off. After all Nick has been in a paddock with only other bulls for the last couple of weeks, you can’t blame him for getting a bit of Prison Fever.

Anyways the whole point of moving the fellas was so that we could put some lick out for them and help them put some weight on.  (Some were starting to look a bit skinny and I was getting particularly concerned about Phill, the lovely bull from Irrigation Paddock who seems to have lost a lot of weight).  Anyways James and I set to cutting and cleaning up a new pod to put their feed in and after lunch drove the feed and tubs out for the bulls.  With regards to Nasty Nick we had to separate him from the cows, if that wasn;t possible then we were going to have to walk them all up the laneway into the yards and then separate them that way…. Not a prospect I favoured, as that would have involved getting up close and personal with Nick, on foot and in a confined space!! Fortunately when we got there the ladies had snuck away from him and we were able roar in and push them out of the gate away from him.  He started to realise what we were doing, but fortunately but that point it was too late as I had blocked the gate with the Toyota.  I still had to jump out and shut the gate, which was a little bit scary, even with the Nissan between me and pissy Nick.  We then tried to coax him into the correct paddock, hoping that he would be better behaved without the women there to show off to.  Nope, he was still having none of it.  He even had a go at the Nissan – I wish I had taken a video as he actually put his head down and was pawing at the ground ready to charge.  Again not wanting to wind him up and cause him to jump fences we decided to leave him in the paddock with the gate to his new paddock left open.  We then dropped of the feed tubs and lick – feeling a little uneasy and checking over our shoulders (fearing Nick had decided to follow us in and eat us!).  Once the food was out we headed out around 4mile to check the dam and said a little prayer to the cattle god, hoping that in the time we were away Nick would have smelt the lick, seen reason, and moved over to the new paddock.  Halleluiah!!  By the time we got back he had seen the error of his ways and moved off into the new paddock, and I could breathe a huge sigh of relief…. Station Manager back on CV … maybe?!

All I can say is what a day that turned out to be!!

Friday 26th July – day 74 

Spent the morning out on a water run.  Managed to not get a total ass whooping in Monopoly Deal – think it ended up 2 games a piece.  As part of the run we did an extra bit of a loop around North Paddock to check on the Weaners that we walked over on Wednesday.  It’s great seeing them out and about and not just stuck in the yards.  They all looked happy and suitably round so that was a relief.  After lunch James and I started to fix up a Nissan tyre (which had blown earlier that week during the water run).  The tyres on the trucks have inner tubes and unfortunately the tube that blew was pretty much in pieces so we weren't able to just simply patch it up.  The rust guard had also completely fallen apart and we couldn't find a replacement one, so thus ended the attempt to fix the tyre as we will need to get some extra parts in town before we can put it all back together.  Feeling a little deflated (haha get it!)  we headed out for a drive around 4 mile paddock fixing up holes.  Found a fair few bits of fence backing onto neighbouring properties that needed some TLC.  Hopefully now those bits are fixed up we won’t get any more of the neighbor's cows in our area. 

Guess what … it’s Friday so off to tennis we went.  Yup it was definitely weird without Jonny.  Turns out myself and Amy make a reasonable partnership, comfortably beating Jasper and James.  Sadly the same cannot be said about myself and James … I may need to pay for him to get some lessons, as I don’t think I can stand losing to Jasper every week!!

p.s. Again, sorry James !! :P 

Saturday 27th July – day 75

Lie in, James checked on the weaners, who were all ok.  We then drove into Cloncurry to do the weekly food shopping and also to pick up a new inner tube and rust belt for the tyre.  Picked up two extras on the way (Cameron and Amy), so it ended up being a fun roadtrip into town.  Jonny had left behind a fair few clothes so Amy bought them with her to drop off at Vinnies (charity shop).  On route however there are a number of large ant hills, some of which have been dressed up/painted …. I think we may have created a new tradition- anyone that leaves must supply an outfit to be used to dress up an ant hill and immortalise their time in McKinlay!! As it was a bit of a spur of the moment decision we didn't have anything to make a face with, so ant Jonny is still a work in progress.  Hopefully he will appreciate the thought!  Didn't get up to much in Cloncurry town other than getting in the weekly food shop.  Dropped Amy off on the way past McKinlay and Cameron came back to ours for the night, I cooked spaghetti and we showed him around some of the station (whilst checking in on 4 mile dam) .. spent the rest of the night watching a film and having a few beverages. 

Sunday 28th July – day 76

Got up and the three of us checked in on the weaners and then we headed out on the motorbikes to show Cameron around (in daylight).  Popped in to check on 4 mile dam and had a look in over at the bulls.  Cameron was having a great time on the bike so decided to take him through the big open in House Dam (which is pretty rough stuff).  Usually we ride on the cattle pads to try and make it a bit of a smoother road – Cam apparently likes it rough as he decided to just zoom across the rough, with the biggest smile on his face ever!! Once we’d waved Cameron off we headed over to the workshop to fix up one of the car tyres.

 

I'm alive!!  Super sorry for taking forever to post on here again, I got a little bit lazy for a couple of weeks, then it seemed like a huge task to catch up ... and then the internet decided to be bad and not let me on.  I won't bombard you will all my millions of stories all at once - so it's going to take a few days to get up to date.  Today happens to be my 87th day!  So I have very nearly done all I need to in order to get my second year visa ...thing is I love it so much out here I think I'm going to stay a little while longer!!  Anyway, enough of that what's been going on at the Station???

Friday 5th July – day 53

Yay my favourite thing to do …. Fixing bike tyres :S  I will confess to jumping on youtube for a quick refresher how to get the damn wheel off the rim – but once that was sorted I managed the rest ok.  After lunch Luke and I headed out to Nulgra and South Paddock to round up the camels out there (as the camel man is coming over to take some away and drop new ones off)  Headed out on the motorbike to do this, I am starting to feel a bit more confident, although need to practice standing up and riding at a reasonable speed – as it makes it a hell of a lot more comfortable when riding over rough country!  As ever headed into town for Friday night tennis, the social highlight of the week. J  

Saturday 6th July – day 54

Bit more of a relaxed day.  Fed the weaners in the morning and did the obligatory dam checks but that was about it.  We went into McKinlay town in the evening to watch the Lions pulverise the Wallabies in the rugby.  Poor Luke was stuck in a room full of Brits who were all very pleased with themselves!  To make things even better Jonny bought us all over a slice of delicious Lemon Cheesecake.  Ahh bliss…

Sunday 7th July – day 55

Was a bit of a late night last night, but managed to get myself up at 5am and drove over to Ding-a-Ding Station where I helped Darcy out with his weaners.  First we had to sort them and then set about ear tagging, branding, de-horning and cutting (the boys).  We then walked them over the road to their new paddock.  These weaners have never been walked out so they were impressively well behaved, couldn’t help but make a few wishes that our little terrors are as well behaved when it comes to walking them over to Nulgra. After lunch time I mowed Tiffanies lovely green lawn and then cleaned out a couple of the water troughs.  Yuck those things get filthy, and there were all kinds of weird buggy amphibian things crawling around in the sludge at the bottom :S  Lets hope I avoid having to do this at Colwell!  Got home just as it started to go dark, long day but good fun and made a few pennies … that’s another “Contract mustering” job under my belt!!

Monday 8th July – day 56

Headed out for the standard Monday morning water run.  Nothing to report as all was ok, I’ve been obsessed with a book recently, so the 45 minutes spent waiting for the water tank at Beaudessert to fill is a great chance to carry on my reading.  I wonder if the reason why I am particularly enthralled with this book is because the main character is called Gemma?!  After lunch I was tasked with getting the quad bike ready for prickle tree spraying and Luke showed me how to mix the poison (60 litres of diesel to 1 part poison). Thankfully finished earlier than normal, after the late night Saturday and early start at Ding-a-Ding I was pretty shattered.

Tuesday 9th July – day 57

Fed the weaners this morning, hungry little things.  The little ones are getting used to us turning up and feeding them, so much so they are getting a bit cheeky and don’t really move out of the way when you are trying to put the feed in their tubs.  Some of them are so cute and fluffy though so I guess I don’t really mind, only thing I dislike about feeding them is when I accidentally end up kneeling in a fresh, warm, squidgy poo!!  After lunch I headed out to Fullers Dam in House Paddock and got started on the mammoth task of spraying prickle trees (specifically the prickly acacia trees).  It gets a bit monotonous, but thankfully I had my iPod with me which was cracking out some great tunes – I hope the cows nearby didn’t get too offended by my terrible wailing (aka singing along!)   .

Wednesday 10th July – day 58

Today we spent most of the day up in Cloncurry.  We took one of the weak weaners up to the vet to be checked out as we do seem to be losing a fair few of them.  Luke just wanted to make sure they didn’t have any viruses or diseases.  The vet seemed to think that they most probably had a vitamin deficiency and so recommended we give them all a vitamin shot.  On route to Cloncurry we picked up an extra, Steph (who works at the road house in McKinlay) so it was nice spending some time with her and having a good old yarn.  She is from Hong Kong, and so McKinlay is VERY different to home life for her! 

Thursday 11th July – day 59

Did the usual Thursday water run this morning.  Sadly there was a dead cow in the dam in 4 mile, tried to get it out but it was stuck in a very awkward position and the banks are very muddy – I ended up about knee deep in mud and had to drag myself out!!  Decided to leave her in there and would come back later … either with my swimming gear on, or with something that I could use to balance on (without getting stuck in the mud!).  Everything else went smoothly on the rest of the water run so when I came back I grabbed a crate and headed out to get the dead cow out.  Worked a treat and saved me having to get in the water, which was a relief!!  After lunch we drafted (sorted) the weaners out into healthy/strong ones and smaller/ less healthy ones in need of a vitamin boost. Lets hope this helps perk them up and stops them dying.  

Friday 12th July – day 60

Fed the hungry weaners this morning, they seemed ok after yesterdays vitamin shot, although it is probably too early to tell just yet.  After feeding, Luke headed off to Polo Cross at somewhere about 10 hours drive away.  I decided to stay home for the weekend to catch up on some sleep.  I did a bit more prickle tree spraying in the afternoon and then after just a few hours of being left on my own I got thoroughly bored and headed into McKinlay for Friday tennis… I got there at about 7.30, not surprisingly I was the first one there so I ended up getting chatting to some of the people passing through.  Met an interesting bloke who picked my brains about backpackers and the potential of creating a business selling cheap camper vans.  Sounded like a good idea from what he was suggesting – if only I had $6k to spare, I’d be tempted to purchase a prototype!  Eventually the usual gang turned up and we had a couple of drinks (to improve our tennis performance) and then headed over to play some tennis.  Jonny and I seem to make a reasonable pair, however I still believe that I am the one scoring most of the points!! I put off going home for as long as possible as I had made the mistake of watching an episode of the Walking Dead before driving out to tennis… I half expected to get back to the station to discover that it was over run with zombies.  Turned out all was ok, although I will admit to making sure the front door was locked and had a few words with the dogs to make sure they kept and ear out for any approaching zombies!   

Saturday 13th July – day 61

Managed to sleep last night, but got a little bit concerned when the dogs woke me up early barking away …. Turned out to just be Bazza coming to pick up his chilly fridges – phew, thought I was going to have to get the gun out!!  Did the daily weaner and dam check and then continued to watch further episodes of the Walking Dead.  This in hindsight was silly, especially as I was at a point where they were living in a farm house that had become over run with man eating zombies.  The house I am in doesn’t look much like the one from the TV series but the country outside looks pretty similar!!  Sets the imagination off that’s for sure.  Thankfully Jonny came out to visit, so I had some company and we switched to watching something a bit more light hearted and less zombie-esk … the Inbetweeners!!

Sunday 14th July – day 62

One of the major plusses of being friends with a chef is getting a scrummy breakfast cooked for you!! J  after chowing down on bacon and eggs myself and Jonny headed up to check the weaners and dam.  Was nice having some company, I would have gone stir crazy if I had been here all weekend on my tod!

Monday 15th July – day 63

Monday morning water run around the property.  I love doing the water runs, getting to check out how things are going across the station; also gives me time to plug my ipod in and sing along to my favourite songs!!  After lunch Luke and I headed up to feed the hungry (greedy) weaners.

Tuesday 16th July – day 64

Weaner training camp.  This morning we got the 400+ larger weaners out of the yards and took them for a walk around one of the holding paddocks.  The purpose was to firstly see how well they walk with us on motorbikes and also to get them used to us and give them an idea of what we expect them to do.  What good weaners they were too!!  They walked beautifully for us, we will walk them a few more times before the big walk over to Nulgra paddocks, after all practice makes perfect!!  After lunch we then headed into Cloncurry to do the weekly food shop and to pick up our new recruit, James who will be here keeping me company whilst Luke is away getting his shoulder fixed. 

Wednesday 17th July – day 65

Took the weaners out for a walk along the laneway to see how they moved.  They went pretty well, so fingers crossed they should be good to walk over to Nulgra next week.  Bit of a baptism of fire for James as this afternoon we headed out to muster up 4 mile, the paddock with lots of the old cows…  all went well and no one got lost!!  It’s just as well James has a fair bit of experience on a motorbike as it’s not the smoothest country to ride over.  After we got back from mustering I learnt how to clean out the motorbike and quad bike air filters – they were filthy so not sure when they were last done!!  It’s the final State of Origin game tonight, which is a pretty big deal out here – it’s an annual 3 match tournament where Queensland play New South Wales.  Apparently Queensland (the region that I am currently in) has won the title for the last 7 years, and tonight was the deciding game (as it was 1 game to each of the teams).  The three of us headed over to Moronan Station where they were having a State of Origin BBQ to celebrate.  Man there was SO much food.  Thankfully Queensland won, not sure Luke could have taken another defeat!! 

Thursday 18th July – day 66

Drafted the cows from yesterday; we had to run them through the shoot and weigh them all to make sure they were heavy enough to be sent off to sale.  All went well although there were a few pretty moody cows who had a bit of a go at myself and James (welcome to the outback!!) I’ve got an ugly black bruise on the back of my left knee from where one cow gave me a serious rubbing up!!  I hadn’t even realised she was angry, I just thought she was coming up to me to sniff – maybe she took offence to my red t-shirt, and so decided to rather vigorously rub her head on me.  Thank god she didn’t have horns and that I was able to jump up on the railings (and hold on!)  Nothing like a bit of cow created drama to get the adrenaline pumping!!  In the end we managed to get them all sorted in pretty good time and so then set about feeding weaners.  We loaded the cows for sale onto the truck at 5, all seemed ok however  unfortunately not long after we got back to the house Luke had a call from the guy who was trucking the cows to say that he was having problems.  Some of the cows were pretty old and a bit skinny so the stress of being drafted through the yards and then loaded onto the truck must have taken its toll on them and a couple of the cows gave up standing and lay down.  Because of the limited space on the trucks they cows can’t be left lying down, as they can cause other cows to fall down and so on.  Luke and Wayne (the truckie) tried to get them all standing again, but there were still a few that wouldn’t get up so they had to be bought back to Colwell and unloaded again … by this point it was gone 9pm and so we had to unload then in the moonlight.  Seeing the glow of cows eyes in the dark is a wee bit creepy, especially when there were a couple of very pissed off cows that were not to happy about being dragged out (by their necks!)  Luke decided to leave the cows in the yards over night with a bail of hay and that we would re-load them again tomorrow morning.  Bit of a shame really as the rest of the day had gone so well. 

Friday 19th July – day 67

James and I headed out to the green tank in Beaudessert Lane to fill it up.  We then hot footed it back for 9.30 to try loading the cows again.  Had to reduce the number of cows to send off as the weaker cows would probably go down again, and it was decided that maybe they would be more comfortable if they were less packed together.  Unfortunately loading took a little bit longer as again there were a few cows that chose to lie down in really awkward spots!!  There was nothing wrong with these cows, they were just being what is described out here as “a bit sookie”  i.e. lazy/whimpy/pains in the but!  We eventually got them all in and sent off for sale in Winton. Once they were gone James and I then walked the leftover cows back down the laneway and deposited them in 4 mile paddock.  Hopefully they will fatten up a bit more out there.  After lunch James and I carried on with the water run checking all the water troughs, dams and bores. Nothing to report on, which is usually a good thing!! Friday can only mean one thing, McKinlay Friday night tennis J .  It’s James’ first tennis night so we introduced him to the usual gang.  Sadly its Jonny’s last Friday night tennis… ever L  so I need to find myself a new partner …. Even more sadly James is not a tennis pro, so looks like I’m going to have to do a lot of the running around to make sure Jasper and Cameron don’t win every week. 

p.s if you are reading this James, I am very sorry!! :P  

Saturday 20th July – day 68

Colwell BBQ time! :D any excuse to have a bit of a gathering eh?!  Spent the morning doing a few odd station chores and then the afternoon prepping some food for the BBQ.  Jonny and Amy came over early and so we got cracking with the drinking games, playing ring of fire.  This is pretty much where my night started and ended …. I learnt a few things from the night;

1)      Don’t play ring of fire when drinking wine, chose a lower % drink i.e. beer, maybe even water!  

2)      DON’T draw the last king and down the cup of nasty (which included gin, rum, vodka, beer, wine and god knows what else)

3)      Maybe just don’t bother playing ring of fire… like ever!

4)      If you get cold whilst lying in your bedroom next to your bucket on the hardwood floor, taking your clothes off and laying under the thinnest of blankets is not the best way to try and warm up! Brrrrrrr.

Needless to say, having consumed the best part of a bottle of white wine on my own, and then drinking a large glass of assorted spirits in one hit I was a little worse for wear at the very un-respectable  hour of 7.30pm!!!  Ooops spent a few very sorry hours in my room, on the floor next to my bin, but managed to come back from the dead by about 11pm … just in time for most of the guests to have left :S  Ahh well the usual lot, Jonny, Charlotte, Amy, James, Martin, Luke were still out and about so the fun continued (and I stuck to the H20).  Still somehow managed to have a pretty fantastic night though!

Sunday 21st July – day 69

Not too much of a clean up to do this time which was nice.  Had the traditional bacon and egg brekkie and then hung out with Jonny, Amy, Charlotte, Martin etc playing cards and watching hang over TV.  Think everyone was pretty shattered so most of us disappeared for a mid afternoon snooze before everyone headed back to their homes to prepare for another weeks work in the outback.  Sad to see Jonny go as he leaves for good on Thursday – who will make scrummy chocolate cheesecake now!?  Despite my failure to see most of the party, I can still say that this was a pretty awesome weekend and I actually didn’t feel too bad this morning! 

Monday 24th June – day 42

Time to practice looking after the place all on my own (for when Luke has to go and have his shoulder op).  Whilst Luke and Nena drove up to Mount Isa to drop off the Porta-loo’s from the races, I spent the day doing the usual morning water run.  All went very smoothly, I was chuffed I managed to do it all without any help, especially starting the petrol motor (which fills up one of the water tanks) and also managing to get the 40kg bags of feed off the back of the truck and then into the feed troughs.  No drama’s or problems to report back… phew!  Once I’d had lunch I then had the task of feeding the weeners 8 bails of hay, all on my own...  This meant I had to first chase 450 weeners out of the way into different parts of the yards; sounds easy enough, but man those little buggers are fast and they are still getting used to moving through the gates into different yards.  I was well and truly puffed by the time I had managed to get most of them sorted – I will admit to having to leave 8 or so as I just couldn't get them into the other yards no matter how much running around flapping my arms making shooooo’ing noises!!  Anyway once that was done I then got up into the loader and using the hay spears dropped 8 of the very large bails over the fence.  That was the easy part, I then had to roll the bails into the right spot and then stand them up on their ends again.  I have no idea how heavy the hay bails are but they are pretty awkward things to try and move around.  Buy the end of all of this I was thoroughly shattered, bright pink and ready for huge glass of water!!  (Or maybe some vino?!)  I think I will have a few sore muscles tomorrow.   But all in all a great day, and gave me a nice boost of confidence that I can manage things on my own without getting lost, injured or stuck in the sand! 

Tuesday 25th June – day 43

Mustered Yanganjerry Paddock with the help of Darcy (from Ding-a-ding station) and a friend of his.  This is a pretty massive paddock, and the aim of today was to gather up all the bulls and any leftover weeners.  Bulls are lazy sods so it takes a fair bit to get them a) moving in the right direction and b) keep them moving in the right direction!!  Needless to say it ended up being a pretty long morning/early afternoon rounding them up and walking them to the yards.  I had a few  head on wrestles with some bulls who obviously could not be bothered to move, I won in the end and they was safely deposited in the yards.  Still gets the heart racing approaching them head on, they are pretty big beasts!! I spent most of the morning on the quadbike but switched onto the motorbike later on.  I’m by no means doing wheelies and skid turns, but I am starting to feel a bit more confident on the motorbike.  Once the cattle were all safely in the yards we set to drafting them, pulling out the bulls and separating the cows from the weeners.  I took up my usual position in the back yards pushing the cattle through to be sorted, and had a couple of run-in’s with some unfriendly cows.  This is still the part of the job that scares me the most, being that close to such large animals that can kick and/or charge at you is pretty terrifying!  Most surprising to me is how gentle and calm the bulls are, they are nothing like the ones you see in movies/cartoons snorting and pawing the ground.  Just as well really, I wouldn't fancy my chances against them if they took a disliking to me!!

Wednesday 26th June – day 44

Spent the early part of the morning walking the bulls that we mustered yesterday out to their new paddocks.  When we got back, Jonny and Sophie (who work at the Walkabout Pub) were ready and waiting to help us muster Irrigation Paddock over at Nulgra.  Think it was a bit of a baptism of fire for Jonny, this paddock has the roughest ground of all the paddocks at Colwell; it was also his first time on a kickstart geared motorbike, and his first time mustering cattle!  Needless to say he did a great job, got the hang of kick starting the bike pretty quickly, and will probably be pretty sore tomorrow!!  The country out here is super rough, lots of mountainous Mitchell grass, creeks and moon rocks that bump you around all over the place.  After hours spent riding the bumps and getting stuck in ruts whilst looking for cattle we failed to come across any out in the open, so we swung by the water troughs and true to form they were all camped out there.  Couldn’t help but feel a little frustrated that we’d spent all that time out there when they were at the water troughs all along, but it needed to be done to make sure we got them all.  Moving them all into the yards went pretty smoothly however a couple of young steers did break away from the mob, this was it, my shining glory when I managed to throw one of the cows.  First you have to chase it around for a bit on the bike to wear it out, then on the quadbike you have to drive up to their side and knock them over, pinning them under the bike, then jump off sit on their shoulder and tie their hind legs together to stop them getting away again.  I then had to stay sat on the cow waiting for the others to bring over the trucks which we then hauled the cows onto.  We then drove them back to where, with all the well behaved cattle looking on, deposited them rather ungracefully in the yards!  That should teach them not to misbehave again! 

Thursday 27th June – day 45

This morning the drafted the cattle from yesterday, once again separating the cows, bulls and weeners.  I had a bit of a go working in the round yard, which got the adrenaline going!  I certainly got to get up close and personal with the bulls, Luke let 3 of them in all at once which made it a bit difficult to open the gate for them to walk through – again, it’s just as well they are all quiet and nicely behaved!!  Once they were all sorted we let the cows back out into their paddock and trucked the bulls and weeners over to the yards by the house.  By the time we managed all this it was pretty late so it was then a mad rush to get the weeners fed, all 500+ of them!!

Friday 28th June – day 46

Mustered House paddock.  It’s a pretty massive paddock and today I spent most of the day whizzing around chasing cattle on the motorbike.  Started off a little shaky but by the end I was feeling pretty confident.  Scariest part was getting across the McKinlay river.  It is a pretty wide riverbed, with lots of thick sand and very steep sides but I got across a few times without any accidents.  Just have to take the slopes nice and steady and keep the revs up across the sand to make sure you don’t get stuck.  There are parts of the paddock that are thick with prickle trees, which of course the cattle love hiding in, think I got a few extra rips in my clothes and LOTS of prickles stuck in me L.  It took a fair while moving the cattle

Again we drafted the cattle to separate the bulls/cows and weeners.  There were a few surprise babies there so we had to separate them and then set to branding them (which I did), castrating the boys (Luke did this) and cutting their horns (to stop them growing horns later on).  I had a go at de-horning, it looks pretty brutal when you are doing it, as there is lots of blood and it’s obviously uncomfortable for them.  I asked why they cut their horns and Luke explained that apart from it being safer for humans when they have to handle the cattle, it is also safer for the cattle and reduces the risk of them causing serious injuries to each other when they fight.  It involves using a sharp de-horning knife and cutting off the skin around where the little horns are just starting to develop.  I think it takes a bit of practice, and as with lots of things out here, it’s not really about physical strength but more about technique.  However uncomfortable it all looks as soon as you let the calf up, they seem to give themselves a quick shake off and are then back to bounding around the place.

As usual on Fridays we hit McKinlay and the Walkabout pub for some drinks and tennis – although tonight was more about the drinking and I don’t think we played a single game of tennis between us!!

Saturday 29th June – day 47

This morning myself and Nena walked yesterdays cows and the bulls out to their new paddocks.  We managed to get it done pretty quickly and were back before lunch time in order to start getting things ready for tonight and Nena’s leaving BBQ.  After lots of chopping up veggies and quick spruce up of the house the place was ready for the party.  We even had enough time to have a quick nap (its been a pretty full on week with all the mustering)  The party was great fun, hopefully Nena enjoyed herself.  It was lovely to have so many people turn up to say their goodbyes, lots of us will be sad to see her leave.  I eventually staggered into bed at aound 4.30 am, and I think things finally came to a close around for the hard core party-goers at 5.30 am.  Epic party …. Clean up not so fun!

Sunday 30th June – day 48

Made the mistake of getting up at 10 to get a glass of water, walked into the kitchen which looked like a beer bomb had gone off in it!! I have never seen soooo many beer cans, rum bottles and wine bottles!!  As I’d seen the mess there was no way I could get back to sleep knowing what a mess it was so I got the cleaning process going (with the help of Jonny and Martin).  It took us all the best part of the day to get things put straight, although we did take some time out to have a fry up, naps and watch some episodes of the Inbetweeners.  (what a perfect hangover combination).  The day wasn’t totally work free, 500 hungry weeners needed feeding up!

Monday 1st July – day 49

Time for, you guessed it more mustering!!  This time we chased cattle around both Nora Creek and Boorama paddocks and did it in record time all before lunch time.  After lunch we drafted the cows and separated the weeners from their mothers.  We were on a roll today and were even able to walk the cows back to their new paddock.  Think I am starting to get the hang of mustering and drafting. :)  

Tuesday 2nd July – day 50

Did a water run over to Nulgara and gave the cows out there some lick.  Luke and Nena then set about fixing up the windmill there, which pumps water out from the underground bore  and then fills up the water troughs for the cattle.  I’m not terrified of heights per-say however I have to say I didn’t enjoy going up there (and I didn’t even climb all the way to the top!).  After lunch myself and Nena set about cutting up another of the large white plastic tubs (which we use to put lick feed in for the cattle) and then ran the tubs out to 4 mile paddock, where we have been putting most of the cows.  Whilst out there we checked in on the dam, and found three cows bogged in. Two had already died, but the third we were able to drag out and get up on its feet.  Bit of a bummer really as it has been a few weeks now since we last had to do this.  Hopefully it was a one off and that will be the end of cows getting bogged there.  

Wednesday 3rd July – day 51

After getting up early to feed the weeners (demanding little shits!) we headed out to Mount Isa … which is just a short 3 hour drive away!!  Did a bit of essential food shopping and headed back home.  Had a bit of sad news when we got back, Monkey one of the working dogs with the gentlest of natures passed away.  Not really sure what happened to him, he was a reasonable age but had seemed to be in good health.  Poor Monkey.

Seeing as it was Nena’s last night we cooked her favourite meal, lasagne, and had a few people over to say goodbye.  It is going to be very different without her

Thursday 4th July – day 52

Bit more of a relaxed morning.  Nena leaves for Perth this afternoon, so we headed out for a horse ride on Serious Boy and Leeroy.  Whilst we checked on the weeners and had some fun cantering around being cowgirls.  Nena had just enough time to pack up her stuff and then we were off to Cannington mine where she caught her flight to Cairns.  It was very sad saying goodbye, but I am positive she will have an amazing time travelling the west coast.  On the way back to the station we popped in and filled up one of the water tanks and did a mini reverse water run.  No cattle in the dam which was great.  Now that I am finally caught up I will leave it at that – need to get a good nights sleep as we have to round up the camels tomorrow!! 

Sorry, sorry, sorry - I am alive I've just been a wee bit slack at getting this posted up!! 

Here we go, grab a cuppa tea to keep you going, it's a long one! .....

Friday 14th June – day 32

Day of fencing.  Whilst the others worked on making some new hay spears to fix onto the loader, I headed out in the morning to check the fences in Nora Creek and Boroma Paddocks.  This took me right up until lunch time, and I got to see parts of the paddocks I hadn't seen before (I am hoping this will help me navigate the paddocks better when it comes to doing more mustering).  Found a few holes and broken wires so got to work fixing this up using the chain straighteners.  I quite enjoy fencing, but this was the first time I have been out on my own fixing them up, so it took a few attempts (along with expressing a few choice cuss words, kicking the car tyre and having a bit of a paddy!) before I was able to get the straighteners working correctly.  After lunch I headed out again to check another couple of paddocks, this time I went out on the quadbike so got to have a bit more fun tearing around and making my way across the riverbeds.  I wish I had taken some before and after pictures to show off all my hard work.  And because it’s Friday we headed off to the usual Friday night tennis and caught up with all the gang.

Saturday 15th June – day 33

Once the weeners had been fed we dolled ourselves up and headed out to Cloncurry for the show.  Sadly we missed most of the show (equine events, crazy motorbike stunts etc)  as we spent too much time playing cards and having pre drinks, although we did get to see the demolition derby and the pretty spectacular firework show.  Most importantly we were there for the disco so spent the night dancing away and listening to the live band.  (Who were very amusing and even performed our request of Tenacious D, Tribute.)  After hours of dancing and laughing we dragged ourselves back to the house we were staying at for the night and crashed out.

Sunday 16th June – day 34

Recovery day.  Not much can be said about today, I spent most of it in bed reading and snoozing!!

Monday 17th June – day 35

Water run in the morning, and then I went out on the four wheeler checking fences in two of the paddocks.  Again I forgot to take photos of my beautiful repair jobs.

Tuesday 18th June – day 36

Cleaned the other house and cottage today ready for the big boss and his guests to stay this coming weekend for the McKinlay races… It’s been a while since the house and cottage have had a proper intensive clean so it took a fair bit of elbow grease to get the place spick and span… (Even with the head start Marie gave us when the Harrisons were staying)  I felt like Kim and Aggy in How Clean is Your House, and by the time we were done the house looked great. 

Wednesday 19th June – day 37

The radiator on the quadbike has a bit of a slow leak, so today I donned my mechanic overalls and got to fixing it.  Unfortunately unlike in a car the quadbike doesn’t have a bonnet, so in order to get to the radiator I had to disassemble most of the external plastic guards (panelling), steel framework and bulbar.  I was so terrified of forgetting where all the nuts, bolts, screws and rivets went that I made sure to draw a diagram and take photos of where all the various bits went.  It took me most of the day to do this.  Taking it apart was relatively easy but putting it back together proved to be a real pain in the butt and got me a little hot under the collar at times.  The biggest problem is that the plastic panels have twisted (due to numerous altercations with cows/bulls/trees/rocks etc) and so trying to get things to fit back together proved tricky, but I did it.  Just another skill to add to the list!

Thursday 20th June – day 38

Water run in the morning and then we headed out to the racetrack for a working-bee (helping to get things set up and ready for race day on Saturday).  The weather has turned pretty chilly and the clouds even spat out a little bit of rain this evening.  Who would have thought that I would be wearing multiple layers a beanie and gloves in the outback during the day!  I hope it warms up a bit in time for the races otherwise we will all freeze in our pretty dresses!

Friday 21st June – day 39

Left at 6am and drove 3 hours out to Mount Isa to get Jet fuel for the big boss, Peter, who is flying in tonight with his friends and family.  Isa is the largest town in the nearby area and has a reasonable selection of clothes shops and even has a nice big Coles and Woolworths (supermarkets) … or so we have been told.  After driving three hours there we got there only to find out that all the shops were closed due to the Mount Isa Show!!  Typical, it’s just as well myself and Nena already had outfits for the races sorted!!.  Fortunately the place that sold the Jet Fuel was open, so it wasn’t a totally wasted day.  Had a bit of a drama on the way back from Isa as one of the front tyres blew and ended up bouncing off out into the bush, even the rim came off… this time we stood and watched Luke fix a new tyre.  Once we finally got home we went to check on the weeners and give them their feed.  They are looking much better although we lost another two, not sure why as they were quite large healthy looking ones, the only thing I can think is that the recent cold weather got to them.  Once we were finished we got to meet the big boss, Peter along with his family and some friends.  After the usual introductions we headed into McKinlay ‘town’ to the Walkabout pub for some dinner.  Complements go out to the Chef who happens to be the lovely Johnny.  The food was scrumptious but the portion sizes were ma-hooo-sive!  I guess they normally feed hungry truckers.  I had to ask for a doggy bag to put some of my lamb chops in.. still had some room left for pudding though!  After gorging on great grub we did the usual Friday night tennis social before heading home to get some beauty sleep ready for a big day at the races tomorrow. 

Saturday 22nd June – day 40

McKinlay races baby!!  Time to get dressed up and fancy again; who would have thought life in the outback could be so sophisticated?!  (although after looking through the photos from the night, I think the sophistication ended at the fancy clothing!)  What a great day and night.  I managed to get a few photos of the horses (especially for you mum), had a bit of a flutter and won $7 (from a $5 bet), however I was having such a good time that I forgot to collect my winnings!!  Oops.  Highlight of the evening was watching the Lions vs. Wallabies rugby game.  GO THE LIONS!! J yippee!!  The Ozzys took it reasonably graciously, more so than I would have had the result been the other way around! (and thank goodness we won, all that backchat I was giving out would have slapped me in the face if we lost)  Once the game was over I put on my dancing shoes and twirled the night away to celebrate our win J.  It really was a great night dancing with all the gang.  I think the combination of dancing for hours and alcohol meant that when it came to camping I didn’t feel cold at all.  Although I was wearing tights, thermal leggings, jogging bottoms, thermal top, fleece, t-shirt and was in my minus 6 sleeping bag, inside the swag (a heavy waterproof/wind resistant canvas sack which has a thin mattress and bedding in it that you roll out and acts as your tent for the night and is usually rolled out wherever you happen to fall!)  All in all it was a very fun day and evening – totally worth the SPLITTING headache that I woke up with!

Sunday 23rd June – day 41

Considering we had been dancing away until gone 1.30 am the night before, we were all up and about at 7.30.  I think it was the smell of bacon and eggs coming from the caterers that tempted us all out of our swags.  I had the best cup of tea that I have ever had from a polystyrene cup, which managed to revive me sufficiently in order to get everything packed up.  We all then did a breathalyzer test to make sure we were under the legal drinking limit (as we had been advised that the Mount Isa road police were pulling people over and checking) and headed home to say goodbye to Peter and his family before spending the rest of the day chilling out watching movies and playing Monopoly deal (which by the way I continue to dominate!)  Fab weekend, think I need to go on a detox for the rest of the week though!  

Sunday 9th June – day 27

Technically today was a day off, however we all decided to head over to Dina-a-Ling station to help our ‘neighbours’ out with some mustering and drafting.  (If you can call people who live 40 mins along the highway at 120km/h neighbours)  The country out there was quite a bit different to our station.  On the plus it was fairly open (so easier to spot cows), there was only one creek (so didn’t get stuck trying to cross over it) and the paddock was a regular rectangle shape (so easier to navigate)… however on the downside, it was covered in Mitchell (aka MOUNTAIN) grass, with the added negative of lots of holes as well as huge tufts of grass AND giant moon rocks, all of which made for a very bumpy ride!!  Anyway we managed to get the cows into the yards and spent the rest of the afternoon drafting them.  These cows were nice and quiet, apart from the odd few Micky Bulls (a male bull minus the dangly bits) who gave us a bit of a charge.  I realised that I’d chosen to wear a red shirt that day, I wonder if that had anything to do with the extra charges?!  Didn’t get home until after dark, gave the dams a quick check to make sure that there was nothing bogged – all good.  Even better was that we got paid, and a bottle of wine for helping out J .

Monday 10th June – day 28

Johnny (who works at the Walkabout Pub in McKinlay and is from York) came out to the station today to help out.  We spent the morning feeding the weeners (hay and special feed), did some maintenance on the loader, and headed out on the standard water run to check all the lick tubs and make sure the water troughs were all in working order, as well as checking for any bogged cows in the dams.  It was great having Johnny along, it’s a shame he didn’t manage to find suitable station work, I think he would have loved it, he certainly fitted in well! 

Tuesday 11th June – day 29

We did our weekly Cloncurry food run, picked up some tyres and also loaded up on cow lick (feed).  On the way back we stopped off al Eloise Mine to pick up some pods (which we will modify to make into some new super sized lick tubs).  Apparently this mine is 1.4km deep and they mine for gold and copper.  Luke used to work here, and said that its about 90% humidity and 60 degrees down there.  Based on that I don’t think I will be heading for a job in the mines next, I’d be a gooey puddle on the floor in those conditions (plus the 12 hour, 7 days a week, 2 weeks on, 1 week off shift pattern sounds less than desirable!).  Once we got back from town Nena and I set about changing tyres on one of the Utes.  We are now pro tyre changers!  (Not a bad skill to pick up really).  Once all 4 tyres were put on we headed out to check all the dams and make sure the weeners are ok.  Sadly another of the really little ones passed away, but the others were all ok, some are even looking pretty impressive – which is great news, the hay and special feed is obviously helping perk them up. 

Wednesday 12th June – day 30

Luke had a meeting in town today, so we were left to our own devices all day, and man did we do well.  We managed to get done all of the tasks Luke set us (with the exception of washing one of the cars).  Started the day by taking all the pods off the truck from yesterday.  We then used the loader to move three pallets of feed, and then hand stacked the feed into the shed (20x 40kg bags of feed = the equivalent of a heavy weights session at the gym!).  We then moved onto the fun stuff; using a grinder (electric  hand held rotary blade) to cut the pods in half to make feed tubs.  It’s the first time I have used that type of powertool so was a little bit hesitant at first, but it was good fun and much easier than trying to saw it by hand.  We both finished with all digits and limbs intact so it obviously went well.  I won’t however be taking up the odd hobby of dancing with a grinder (see photo from show in Mexico) , those sparks bloody sting, even when you are wearing jeans and long sleeves!  After lunch we put a new battery into the grader (big truck used to level roads) and transferred the older battery into the tractor (all without any glitches! proud.com) and then headed up to feed the weeners.  I don’t know how Luke makes all of these tasks look so easy.  The weener feed is in 1 tonne bags, so we have to use the loader to lift the bag of feed above the feeding troughs.  One person then has to undo the shoot at the bottom of the bag, holding it closed to stop to it all coming out at once, and then scrabble along on their knees whilst the person in the loader drives it along the feed troughs.  Sounds easy enough, but not when you are trying to hold back 1 tonne of feed, on your hands and knees!!   Once we had successfully managed to put all the feed into the troughs, we had to get 8 very large bails of hay into the paddock.  Nena picked the bails up with the tractor and then I rolled them into the appropriate places… sounds easy but those bails are bloody heavy.  I suspect I will be a wee bit sore tomorrow.  A quick whizz across to check the dams and the day just flew by.

After reading this back, it doesn't sound like we really did all that much, but trust me we worked pretty much solidly from 8am until 5.30 with the exception of lunch and a quick morning smoko (break)  I am pretty sure that Luke is suitably impressed with our efforts…. Or at least he better be!

Thursday 13th June – day 31

Did the routine water run this morning, nothing to report back with as everything was in order.  After lunch I set to cleaning the Toyota (inside and out) … No one is allowed in with their shoes on now!  Once the car was clean, Luke gave us an introductory lesson in how to weld.  Let me tell you it is nothing like Flashdance!  It’s pretty technical and takes a good steady hand and patience.  I hadn’t realised but the type of light and heat let off by it is enough to give you a suntan (hence the need for a large mask, gloves and heavy clothing.)  I managed to do a few decent lines of welding but I think it takes a fair bit of practice to get the hang of it.  No photos of my welding attempts, just imagine a bit of a wiggly, blobby looking line!